Moving Month, Part 2

This has been the hardest month (week) physically, financially, emotionally, and any other which way you look at it. Originally our Must Move Out Date was December 15th. But when the new buyer's loan didn't come through, the date was pushed back to December 30th. Aldo and I had most of our stuff moved out by the 15th. The final things were bicycles, tools, and the like in the garage. And some condiments in the fridge. Then, the week of Christmas mom informed us she was going out of town to Tennessee to move her camper and put an offer on some land down there. She said we (Aldo, myself, my uncles and Granddad) had to move her stuff out by the time she got back. Because the next day she would be signing the papers over. !! We had three days.... AND this is Aldo's busiest season, full of BLACK OUT days. 

Well, we did it. We got it done. With a toddler too!

Let me vent for a second.... I thought I might get a break from moving on Christmas Day. I didn't. Mom was taking off the next day for her trip, and all Christmas she was grumpy, saying stuff like "well I need to pack... I guess I'll do it by myself... nobody is helping me..." in her passive aggressive way of asking people to help her move. It's Christmas! So I went all day hearing this while trying to be with family, and finally couldn't take it any more and went over to help her get things loaded on her camper at night, since the guys just wanted to watch football. We pulled the camper in front and were checking the tail lights when we found that the entire right corner was covered in mold. The cushions were ruined. The corner needs completely gutted. So I couldn't pack anything on the camper. At the same time we found a leak in the garage. Apparently all that work mom and Jerad did on the garage roof, pulling up the surrounding metal, cleaning off the top, patching, and painting didn't fix the problem. So all night mom was furious. I went to help her pack so she would be ready to leave at 6 or 7 in the morning, so she could get down to Tennessee at the time she wanted, but instead  most of the time was spent shaking her head at the cushions and the puddle in the garage floor. The next morning she took her Durango to the mechanic to have fluids checked and wound up getting things replaced... and didn't leave until after noon.

Day 1 - Monday : Jerad cleaned out the 3rd garage stuff like mom's tools that she wanted in the trailer and put a load of things in his horse stall.

Day 2 - Tuesday : Jerad and I started packing boxes and moved them all to the large trailer with the furniture so we could figure out the best way to pack it on mom's trailer (to fit it all and get what mom wanted by the door.) Then when Jul came over we started moving it over to mom's trailer. It was probably our biggest moving day. And all this time Luke, Jenna and sometimes Jenna's friend were watching Mila.

Day 3 - Wednesday : Aldo and I both had to work in the morning, so Jerad watched the kids for us. Dad wanted to meet with me and the kids after I got off work for a special Christmas shopping spree. And then when we got back, Jerad was ready to finish with mom's house. I guess he had moved the rest of the garages and back room to the barn?? Or somewhere. I have no idea. So what was left was craft room junk and outside junk. We spent the night moving old, good-for-nothing (not even firewood) lumber on Jul's trailer. 

By the time mom got home on Thursday I was super excited that we got all that she asked done. Thursday morning Aldo and I went to sign papers at the apartment because it would be his only day off. Mom wasn't impressed at all when she saw what we had done. She said we didn't have to move the wood. The trailer was packed wrong. And where did her computer go? And we need to stop using her internet. ?!?! 

The newest news is this: the sale of the house fell through.

The appraiser for the VA that the guy was getting his loan from appraised the house too low. An appraisal that may stick with the house for 6 months. Mom doesn't want to come down on the price of the house again... (it would be $232K). All of our rush and work, I feel, was for nothing. She commented that she's letting the contract with her real estate agent run out and she'll do a For Sale by Owner. And in the meantime bring up the price of the house by updating the kitchen.

Lately, she's been hovering. The other day she wanted Luke to go with her to recycle, and when I said no because we had plans, she began to interrogate me on what those plans were. And got defensive when I said she's judgemental and that's why I didn't want to tell her. (Maecy said she told her our conversation and that she assumed I was at our Pastor's house. A Pastor's is not a bad place to hang out. No wonder I never had friends growing up...). When I went over today  to finish up the basement by shampooing the rest of the carpet and sweeping and mopping, and scrubbing the bathroom floor like she wanted... she came down and started spraying cleaner in the creepy bathroom (that we never used and had already cleaned) and started looking under sinks and such. When are we going to be free of her criticism? Are we ever going to be finished with the house? We have our own apartment now, pushed out / forced to get into by my own mother... when is our life going to become important?   Nothing we ever do, no decision we make is ever going to appease her.

I'm seriously bummed for my mom that the house didn't work out. This whole adventure / process has been one obstacle after another. I'm sorry her hopes were set high. I'm sorry she's now stuck in a house to pay for by herself, with an animal she'll have to take care of by herself, with repairs or remodeling she wants to make to get it sold at the price she wants and I'm sure she'll be left to do it by herself. The outcome to all of this isn't what I thought. What should be a celebratory thing hasn't been that way with every step. All I know is now we have the keys to a place called home, and we're going to be sleeping there on Tuesday.